Pubdate: Tue, 10 Jan 2012
Source: Holland Sentinel (MI)
Copyright: 2012 GateHouse Media, Inc.
Contact: http://extra.hollandsentinel.com/submitletter.shtml
Website: http://www.hollandsentinel.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1145
Author: Jim Hayden and The Associated Press

STATE STILL PEDDLES POT: HOLLAND AREA DISPENSARIES HAVE BEEN CLOSED;
OPEN ELSEWHERE

Holland - A huge sign tries to lure customers to Meme's Green Dream.
Around the corner, there's Big Daddy's, another marijuana dispensary
for people with chronic pain or other health woes. A third shop, The
Barn, is less than a mile away here in Genesee County, promising
high-quality pot that will deliver "giggle fits."

The Michigan appeals court four months ago said it is illegal for
shops to broker the sale of marijuana, the most significant legal
decision since 63 percent of voters approved marijuana for medicinal
use in 2008.

But the trade hasn't stopped everywhere. Instead, it seems to have
flourished in some pockets of the state, thanks to defiant owners and
law-enforcement officials with a hands-off approach.

In the Holland area, though, many dispensaries have
closed.

Allegan and Ottawa prosecuting attorneys sent letters to police
agencies advising them of the ruling from the Michigan appeals court
in late August that said the 2008 medical marijuana law, and the
state's public health code, does not allow people to sell medical
marijuana to one other, even if they are among the 99,500 who have
state-issued marijuana cards.

If police believe a dispensary is violating the law, officers were
instructed to give a copy of the letter and court case to the
operators, giving them a chance to desist or consult with their attorneys.

Area municipalities have put moratoriums on medical marijuana
facilities or banned them outright.

Holland banned medical marijuana dispensaries and limited where a
caregiver can set up shop.

Holland Township adopted an ordinance that does not allow
dispensaries. Zeeland has a moratorium on dispensaries.

Heath Township limits the exchange of the drug to a home occupation
business between a caregiver and his or her five or fewer patients.
The rules ban dispensaries, collectives, cooperatives and
smokehouses.

Douglas and Fillmore Township have moratoriums in place.

Saugatuck city and Laketown and Saugatuck townships do not have
ordinances.

Allegan County will host a medical marijuana presentation Friday for
professionals, such as mental health workers and in-home caregivers,
who need guidance on the law. Kenneth Stecker from the Prosecuting
Attorneys Association of Michigan will update changes to the law and
answer questions about it.

Other areas of the state, though, have been less aggressive.

"It's really not one of my priorities, not to mention that I don't
have any complaints from police," said David Leyton, a prosecutor in
Genesee County. "With the crime rate I deal with -- the violence, the
murders, the carjackings, the armed robberies -- our plate is full."

Indeed, weedmaps.com lists at least a dozen dispensaries in Genesee
County, including four in Burton, about an hour north of Detroit. Some
still are operating in the Detroit area, Ann Arbor and even Adrian in
southeastern Michigan. Authorities elsewhere have been aggressive.
Oakland County has shut down at least eight dispensaries, and police
in northern Michigan recently seized cash and marijuana from three
so-called collectives in the Traverse City area.

The result: A statewide court ruling that was supposed to provide
clarity to a vague law has simply become a tool of discretion,
depending on where you live.

"It was heralded as the death knell for all dispensaries. Well, it
wasn't," said Rick Thompson, a spokesman for Big Daddy's in Burton,
Detroit, Sandusky and Macomb County's Chesterfield Township. "We have
loved ones who are ill, and we believe in what we're doing."

We have to fight for these things while we're still healthy. If we're
too sick, it may become too late."

Even lawyers who specialize in medical-marijuana issues are
surprised.

"They're obviously getting bad advice," attorney Jesse Williams said
of dispensaries. "Anybody that's open in Michigan will at some point
be raided. ... I don't see the judiciary allowing any type of model to
work in Michigan."

Matt Abel, a lawyer whose firm is called "Cannabis Counsel," tells
people to be "smart -- and lucky."

"The only way you're going to exist as a dispensary is by the graces
of the local authority," Abel said. "It's not a safe thing. The people
who are more of a cowboy are sticking their necks out and doing it."

One of the problems with Michigan's voter-approved law is that it
doesn't say where 131,300 people with state-issued cards can get
marijuana. The law says they can possess up to 2.5 ounces of "usable"
pot and keep up to 12 plants in a locked place. A registered caregiver
also can grow marijuana for five people.

In mid-Michigan's Isabella County, a dispensary was allowing patients
to sell marijuana to other patients, with the shop collecting
thousands of dollars in commissions. The appeals court in August said
it was clearly illegal and agreed that Compassionate Apothecary could
be shut down as a "public nuisance." The Michigan Supreme Court is
considering whether to take the case.

"The law was passed for compassion. It wasn't passed for profit," said
Oakland County Prosecutor Jessica Cooper, who believes aggressive
enforcement has eliminated dispensaries in her county, Michigan's
second-largest.

Since the court decision, Attorney General Bill Schuette has sent
staff across the state to advise authorities about how they, too, can
crack down in their communities. The handouts included a model of an
11-page lawsuit with blank spaces for local names and other vital
information.

"Those that continue to operate do so at their own peril," Schuette
said.

But what about indifference by some local authorities? "I understand
the demands on local law enforcement. I'll leave it at that," the
attorney general said.

Most dispensaries contacted by the AP declined to explain how they do
business or why they believe they can get around the appeals court
decision. At Big Daddy's in Burton, a sign on the wall says "donations
only." At The Barn, visitors have to be buzzed in to open the front
door and then pass through a metal detector to get through a second
door.

In Ann Arbor, Chuck Ream, president of Arborside, said members who
have medical-marijuana cards get pot from other members, around $15 a
gram and up to $450 an ounce.

"Obviously people give up money to get product, and the grower gets
money when they bring their medicine. But it's all donations," Ream
said. "There's got to be a way for people to get the medicine, or the
whole (law) is a sham."

Richard Celmer, 48, of Chesterfield Township said he uses marijuana to
stimulate his appetite, which is suppressed from medicine for a bad
back, bone spurs and bipolar disorder. He has a caregiver who grows
pot for him, but he also likes dispensaries.

"I smoke and hang out with people," Celmer said. "You're in a safe
environment. It keeps people from going to the street."
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